Morning Word: State developing water plan

But criticisms have plagued the project from the outset, including the charge that the state’s top-down approach is bypassing the voices of local water users. Critics also claim a failure to consider the effects of climate change on the state’s water supplies will undercut the validity of the results.

Officials acknowledge that, despite a state law requiring an inventory of water supply and demand, previous efforts came up short. “We concluded we were not doing meaningful planning,” said Mark Sanchez, head of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission’s water planning subcommittee.

And we’ll probably hear from a Hobbs-based group called GOAL Advocacy, a conservative nonprofit group dedicated to promoting “policies and common-sense solutions that create jobs and strengthen our economy and to educate Americans on the positive impacts the oil, gas and agricultural industries have on our economy.” GOAL is headed by Jason Heffley, a former staffer of U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce.

Listed as a contact on the GOAL website is Andrea Goff, who used to work for Martinez’s campaign and PAC. Goff was quoted in the infamous recent National Journal article about McCleskey, saying the governor had told her McCleskey was launching New Mexico Competes.

Charlie Cook, a political analyst who publishes a newsletter called The Cook Political Report, summed up what national pundits have been saying about New Mexico’s governor:

“The Republican Party’s brand is so badly damaged overall, Martinez checks virtually every box,” Cook told The New Mexican.

“She’s a Hispanic, woman, relatively young and seen as a centrist at a time when the GOP is seen as having massive problems with each of those four groups.”

Prosecutors who reviewed the case ruled the shooting justified. They said officer Sean Wallace decided to shoot based on a belief that Gomez was armed and preparing to harm hostages: his brother and brother’s girlfriend.

Investigators later said Gomez was actually holding a large black spoon at one point, though Gomez did have a rifle earlier that night and had fired it before police arrived. It was found, loaded, in a hall closet. Police were dispatched after the girlfriend called to say they were being held against their will.

Bill Browne, a director of the local affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, said workers last received a pay raise – 2.5 percent – in 2011. The next most recent increase – 2.7 percent – came in 2009. Many workers are paid “$9 and change” an hour, he said.

UNMH and the unions are in negotiations. The union is seeking a 2.7 percent raise this year and similar increases over the coming two years.

Duttenhofer, who lives across from the site where the tanker trucks would transfer oil, said the rail company’s owner had called him a couple of months ago about the plan.

“As a community we are very concerned about spills,” he said. “It is within a few hundred feet of our community well. I’m not an expert but I would think one spill would be bad.”

According to court documents Mora County Sheriff Thomas Garza told a suspect in a March 2012 home burglary in which firearms were taken "If you give me the weapons I will let you go clean."

He then told a deputy to write in the report that the guns were discovered during a missing-person investigation.

For Garza, the plea agreement marks the end of his law enforcement career because the agreement also requires him to surrender his certification as a sworn law enforcement officer.

But in exchange, Garza is all but guaranteed no jail time and even received a deferred sentence, which means that if he stays out of trouble the conviction won’t remain on his record.

"It is difficult to express the needs of a rural community," said Christine Logan, economic development coordinator for the Luna County area, "Rural communities need our support. Many rural communities do not have the voice urban communities have."

Friday news dump: On Jan. 6, I'll be joining @krqe full-time as an investigative journalist/producer.

— Jeff Proctor (@cjproctor74) December 13, 2013

Still, support levels for clean energy may vary among individual markets.

In New Mexico, for example, although most consumers do seem to support renewable additions to the grid, they appear more sensitive when asked to pay more for it, according to a poll in August of Public Service Company of New Mexico customers.